Electrolytic capacitors are traditionally known for their high capacitance value and compactness. Despite the existing compactness of known electrolytic capacitors and electrolytic capacitor arrays, there are constant efforts to reduce the volume and corresponding volumetric efficiency of such electronic components.
Exemplary components of a conventional electrolytic capacitor include a main capacitor body including respective anode and cathode portions, an anode lead (e.g., an anode wire embedded in the capacitor body), and a cathode lead (e.g., a leadframe connected to the cathode portion) all molded together in an encapsulating resin package. The volumetric efficiency of an electrolytic capacitor is typically defined as the ratio of the main capacitor body volume to the volume of the entire molded capacitor package. The anode and cathode leads of such capacitors form respective positive and negative electrical connections to the capacitor structure. These electrical connections sometimes extend axially from the capacitor structure, and in such cases can take up a significant amount of space inside the capacitor package.
In other electrolytic capacitor configurations, the anode and cathode leads are arranged to accommodate surface mounting of the electrolytic capacitor, which can be especially useful when electrolytic capacitors are employed in any type of integrated circuit environment. Thus, chip-type electrolytic capacitors have been designed not only with volumetric performance characteristics in mind, but also such that device mounting to a substrate is facilitated. Such facilitated device mounting is often achieved by configuring both electrical terminations to extend from a selected surface of the capacitor. Several known examples employ substantially co-planar termination arrangements that facilitate surface mounting of an electrolytic capacitor to a substrate.
While various configurations of surface-mount electrolytic capacitors exist, a need remains for a capacitor system and corresponding method of manufacture that provides further improvements in volumetric efficiency, device profile and electrical performance characteristics.